Royal Ontario Museum Blog
Monthly Archive: December
Artists of the Floating World, Part II
Written by Josiah Ariyama
Supervised by Dr. Asato Ikeda
In the sunset years of his life and a hundred years before Perry, Suzuki Harunobu revolutionized the woodblock printing method, rendering previous methods obsolete. In Part II we look at nishiki-e, full-coloured prints from 1765 onward.
Harunobu
Not just for show: how and why museum specimens are collected
![ROM technician Brad Millen processes a bird specimen that will be added to the ROM's collections. Photo by Samantha Stephens ROM technician Brad Millen processes a bird specimen that will be added to the ROM's collections. Photo by Samantha Stephens](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/rom-bugroom_samantha_stephens-4.jpg?itok=lYnukphh)
Guest blog by Environmental Visual Communication student Samantha Stephens
The sign on the door seemed quite appropriate. “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” I imagine that, as this quote from Dante’s Inferno indicates, this might be what hell feels like. As this last barrier swings open and the dim room is revealed, the swarm of hundreds of tiny creatures moving across the concrete floor completes that vision. However, for some of the ROM’s tireless workers, this environment is heaven. Here resides the dermestid beetle colony. These ravenous beetles are eagerly seeking their next meal. Manoeuvring themselves into the crevices of skeletons, they strip the flesh from delicate specimens with more precision and speed than the nimblest of human fingers.
#ThrowbackThursday: A Very Hot Evening
In September, 1971, the ROM opened the landmark exhibition Keep Me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo ‘Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.
Artists of the Floating World, Part I
Written by Josiah Ariyama
Supervised by Dr. Asato Ikeda
A Third Gender: Beautiful Youths in Japanese Prints, exhibited at the ROM from May until November, 2016 offers but a glimpse into the lives of Wakashu, or “young companions” living in Edo period Japan (1603-1868). The exhibition not only features a plethora of great woodblock prints, but exacerbates the viewer’s imaginary journey into this time through the use of film, screens, and sartorial artefacts such as armour, kimono and hair ornaments.
An Interview with Jameel Jaffer
![Interview with Jameel Jaffer Jameel Jaffer](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/shaul_schwarz_0.jpg?itok=B2NJLMnk)
With his talk at the upcoming 11th annual Eva Holtby Lecture on Contemporary Culture, part of the ROM Speaks series, constitutional lawyer and civil liberties advocate Jameel Jaffer will focus on the phenomenon of official secrecy. Zeroing in on the legal, political, and social repercussions of allowing democratic governments to withhold information about national security policy from the public. The ROM's Ann Webb recently talked with Jaffer about the interssection of art and secrecy.
#ThrowbackThursday: Working Like Mad
![Photograph of <em>Keep Me Warm One Night</em>, the exhibition. Photograph of textiles behind a spinning wheel](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/rom2008_9904_34.jpg?itok=LJen3z8O)
In September, 1971, the ROM opened the landmark exhibition Keep Me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo ‘Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.
Going Dark
![Going Dark Jameel Jaffer](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/shaul_schwarz.jpg?itok=4vWY9kgB)
Blog by Doug Wallace
The culture of government secrecy and society's indifference to it are quickly becoming a troubling trend.
Remembering Ancient Pottery Traditions
![Remembering Ancient Pottery Traditions Richard and Catherine examining ceramics made by their Ancestors.](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/8._blog1_1.jpg?itok=0b2gZRfG)
This summer Wyandot artists Richard Zane Smith and Catherine Tammaro visited the Royal Ontario Museum’s New World Archaeology collections. The purpose of their visit was to study a small sample of the ROM’s Wendat pottery collections in order to gain information on ancestral Wendat and Tionontati ceramic techniques.
#ThrowbackThursday: Keep Me Warm One Night
![Photo of the east wall in <em>Keep Me Warm One Night</em> and Dorothy Burnham's description. Picture of Keep Me Warm One Night installation](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/installation-shot.jpg?itok=N5NNnjhQ)
Exactly forty-five years ago, in September, 1971, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) opened the landmark exhibition Keep me Warm One Night, a kaleidoscopic display of over 500 pieces of Canadian handweaving. It was the culmination of decades of pioneering research and collecting by the ROM curatorial powerhouse duo ‘Burnham and Burnham’, aka Dorothy K. Burnham and Harold B. Burnham.
Trees for Toronto - Our Urban Forest
![evening sunlight streams through the leaves and branches of the trees in Queen's Park, the original home of the Trees for Toronto project. Photo by Rhi More evening sunlight streams through the leaves and branches of the trees in Queen's Park, casting shadows on the green grass. Photo by Rhi More](https://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/blog_post/thumbnail/photo_9_rhimore_treesfortoronto-2.jpg?itok=RQm0ZAiL)
Guest blog by Environmental Visual Communication student Rhi More
Bringing more attention to trees is what the Royal Ontario Museum had in mind when its botanists and Creative Department partnered with the City of Toronto Urban Forester’s Office to create Trees for Toronto in 2004. EVC Student Rhi More decided to check out this ‘urban arboretum’ for herself, and share the findings with our readers.